MDI Spacer - Preschooler

How to Use a Puffer with a Spacer That Has a Mask

Watch a video on how to give your infant a MDI

Watch a video on how to give your child a MDI

Doctors recommend spacers with masks for children until they are able to understand the instructions on how to use a spacer with a mouthpiece. They also recommend spacers with masks for adults who can't keep their lips sealed around the regular spacer.

  1. Remove the cap of the puffer. Shake the puffer up and down.
  2. Insert the puffer in the hole at the back of the spacer.
  3. Have the child sit up straight.
  4. Put the mask over the child's mouth and nose. Press the mask against her face. Make sure there are no gaps between her face and the mask. Hold the mask on the child's face with one hand. With the other, hold the spacer, with your finger on top of the puffer's canister.
  5. Press the puffer's canister down to spray one puff into the spacer.
  6. Ask the child to breathe in and out through her mouth 6 times.
  7. If your child needs more than one puff of medicine, repeat steps 5- 7. Do not spray more than one puff at a time into the spacer.
  8. Rinse your mouth out with water and spit the water out (don't swallow it). Rinsing your mouth can cut down on some side effects, like a white coating on your tongue (a yeast infection called thrush) or a sore throat.

Page Last Updated: 09/06/2016